President Biden on Tuesday signed a series of executive orders aimed at promoting racial equality in America, fulfilling a campaign promise he made last year amid racial protests across the country.
And Biden took steps to reverse what he called “the administration’s damaging ban prior to diversity and sensitivity training” and President Trump’s controversial “1776 Commission”.
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The president said his actions to promote racial equality were a direct response to the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after being pinned to the ground by police in Minnesota, with a knee to his neck. Biden, at an executive order signing ceremony at the White House, emphasized that Floyd’s death “opened the eyes of millions of Americans”.
President Joe Biden comments on racial equality in the White House State Dining Room, Tuesday, January 26, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)
“It was the knee in the neck of justice and it would not be forgotten,” added Biden. “This marked a turning point in this country’s attitude towards racial justice.”
Floyd’s death quickly pushed long-standing concerns about police brutality against minorities and the broader issue in the country’s systemic racism history back in the national spotlight.
Biden signed four executive actions, including one that he said would eradicate systemic racism in housing and criminal justice. He headed the Department of Housing and Urban Development, known by its acronym HUD, “to correct historic racism in federal housing policies.”
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The president also ordered the Justice Department to eliminate the use of private prisons, which he said “is the first step in preventing companies from profiting from less humane and secure incarcerations, as studies show.”
The president also instructed “federal agencies to fight the resurgence of xenophobia, especially against Americans of Asian origin and the Pacific Islands, which we saw shooting during this pandemic”. Biden said, “This is unacceptable and anti-American.” And Biden said he would renew the federal government’s commitment to respect tribal sovereignty and strengthen relationships with Native American tribal nations.
The president also abolished what he called the “1776 offensive and counterfactual commission”.
Biden emphasized that “unity and healing must begin with understanding and truth, not ignorance and lies.”
The commission, first announced by President Trump in September, was designed to teach the history of the United States from a patriotic perspective. The aim was to reject the idea that the country is “hopelessly and systemically racist” and to present an alternative to The New York Times “Project 1619”, which has been adopted as an educational tool in some schools, as well as in other reports from early nation days.
Earlier this month, Biden’s presidential transition team said the commission had “sought to erase America’s history of racial injustice”.
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Biden, in announcing his executive orders on racial equality, said that “I firmly believe that the nation is ready to change, but the government must also change. We need to make equity and justice part of what we do every day. Today, tomorrow and every day. “
Although he warned that “I am not promising that we can end this tomorrow”, the president said: “I promise that we can continue to make progress to eliminate systemic racism and all branches of the White House and the federal government will be part of that effort. . “
Audrey Conklin of Fox News contributed to this report